Home Remedies for Stress includes taking deep abdominal breath, taking reasonable control over your life, using epsom salt, consuming chamomile tea, having a massage, taking Indian ginseng, consuming holy basil, taking green tea, taking cup of passion flower tea, regularly exercising, positive self talk, and getting help/therapy.
What is Stress?
The lifestyle of the modern man is pressured, fast-paced, and loaded with responsibility. No wonder it can all lead to the insurmountable amount of stress. The literal definition of stress encompasses a non-specific bodily response to any demand for change. Although traumatic life events are a major contribution in the etiology of stress, daily life hassles including work, relationships and another problematic area of life can also cause the level of stress to take a toll, both mentally and physically.
Stress, when crosses a particular limit, often alters the body’s chemistry and may also affect immunity. Some common physical ailments that are caused by stress might include muscle aches or tension, headaches, fatigue, chest pain, frequent urination, difficulty falling asleep, upset stomach and in cases where the amount of stress is high it might even lead to certain types of ulcers.
The psychological condition is directly affected by stress. It is positively correlated with our mood, and behavior. Higher levels of stress are further responsible for other debilitating negative emotions, such as restlessness, anxiety, lack of motivation, unnecessarily high anger, irritability, sadness, social withdrawal, and depression.Too much stress also commonly cause hypertension, obesity, and several types of heart ailments.
Although stress is unavoidable in the modern era’s challenging life, there are many remedies using which it can at least be combatted effectively. Some of them are discussed in detailed below:
13 Natural Home Remedies for Stress
1. Deep/Abdominal Breathing
Deep breathing is a technique used by therapists all over the world to calm down nerves and related disorders of the nerves. Deep breathing is an ideal way to cool a person down in anxiety, frustration, and stress. It is also very useful in anger management. It gives your body enough time to take a break from the disturbing thoughts while at the same time helping you concentrate on your breathing pattern. It also fills your abdomen with air and might help you feel fresh even when you are depressed or are experiencing a low mood.
2. Try to Achieve Reasonable Control over Life
Let’s admit; nothing is fully ever under our control. But that does not mean that things have to be out of control all the time. If you think you have little to no autonomy over your job or relationship, it might be high time you change it. When a situation leaves you feeling completely gutted and out of control despite your efforts, it is no use staying and ruining it any further.
3. Using Epsom Salt
Stress raises the body adrenaline level and decreases the magnesium level. Epsom salt is enriched with magnesium which provides the body with necessary magnesium which further helps boost the serotonin level in the body. Serotonin is the happy hormone that elevates the happy mood. Adding a cup of Epsom salt and aromatic essential oil in your bathtub and stir it thoroughly. Soaking in this water can help relax conditions like irritability, anxiety, abnormal heart rhythms, and insomnia.
4. Consuming Chamomile Tea
Chamomile is a herb that leaves soothing effects on the entire central nervous system. It is a great muscle relaxant and promotes better sleep quality. Making chamomile tea and consuming it at least four times a day can prove to be highly beneficial in lowering down elevated stress levels.
5. Massage
One cannot undermine the importance of a good massage in stress. It is a great stress reliever and alleviates pains from the body by relaxing muscles. Traditional Chinese medicine claims that massage opens up the blocked energy channels and reduces stress levels to a great extent. Adding warm oil onto hands before massaging a certain area of the body enhances its efficacy.
6. Indian Ginseng
Cortisol is called stress hormone because it elevates the levels of stress. A study published in Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine in 2012 showed that Indian ginseng is highly effective in lowering down the elevated stress levels. Furthermore, Indian ginseng is found to be very beneficial in improving the functioning of nervous system. It also fights fatigue, boosts energy and improves sleep quality.
7. Holy Basil
Basil is an Ayurvedic herb which is well known for its anti-stress properties.It is adaptogenic therefore it enhances the body’s ability to respond to emotional and physical stress. The central effect of holy basil targets changes that are a result of chronic stress, as published in a 2006 study of Journal of Ethnopharmacology. It can either be consumed by chewing ten or12 leaves of basil or making a tea out of basil leaves.
8. Green Tea
An amino acid knows as L-Theanine enhances the flow of alpha brain waves which encourage relaxation and calmness, improves mental alertness and focus and lessen stress. This amino acid is present in abundance in the green tea leaves. Moreover, L-Theanine is also chiefly responsible for the production of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)- a the relaxation promoting neurotransmitter in the body.
9. Passion Flower
Passionflower is a wondrous fruit for developing GABA neurotransmitter in copious amounts. A cup of passion flower tea during the day greatly helps reduce stress. It may also be consumed in the form of tincture, tablet, or liquid extract. You should give this herb to small children and pregnant women only after consulting with a doctor or expert.
10. Exercise
Whether exercise is done with moderate-intensity, high-intensity, in the form of aerobics, or just as a walk, it does wonders for the body inside-out. It releases ‘feel-good hormones’ and inhibits the release of stress hormones. It works as a great distractor from daily busy routine and helps improve the mood.
11. Consume B-Vitamins
B vitamins including all vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, vitamin B7, vitamin B9 and vitamin B12 are great muscle relaxants and promote proper brain functioning. The deficiency of these vitamins can cause depressed mood, anxiety, and irritability. You can take Vitamin B either in the form of supplements or diets rich in vitamin B can also be included in your daily diet regimen. These diets include beans, whole grains, peas, spinach, peanuts, kale, bananas, potatoes, eggs, avocados and dairy products.
12. Get Help/ Therapy
You should not seek therapy as a last resort. In fact, seeking professional help in the early stages of a problem often helps prevent serious illnesses.
13. Change the Self Talk in Your Mind
In Psychology, they call it NATs- negative automatic thoughts. These include the tension-triggering talk with oneself that put you in self-doubt and lead to self-made conclusions about future or past that might or might not be true. Changing the direction of self-talk from negative to positive is a must if you want to avoid any unnecessary stress.
Conclusion
Keep in mind that these remedies are only as good as your willingness to change things. Problems that are mental in nature need a strong mental approach from a person for resolution. While the remedies stated above are of great help in promoting a stress-free life, the positive change starts when you tell yourself, “I will beat the stress”.
